Memory's Edge: Finding Chrysanthemum
by XionAmmy
Summary: Semi-AU. When Japan goes missing, Kiku shows up in an alternate world. Are the two events connected? It's up to the remaining Axis Powers to find out... rated for mild language, nothing I don't hear on a daily basis in English, of course.
1. Prologue: Meeting a Piece of My Past?

**Summary extended: **Japan vanished the day before a world meeting. The other members of the disbanded Axis Powers team, knowing he would never intentionally miss a meeting (despite the chaos that always ensued) set up a search for him, but he was never found. Eventually, they were forced to assume him dead.

One year after Japan vanished, Germany, Italy, and Romano find themselves trapped in an alternate reality where the government controls everything and rules ruthlessly. But wait! Could the Runner they meet _really_ be Japan, or are they so desperate to find their friend that their minds are playing tricks on them?

Meet Kiku Honda. One year ago, he woke up here unable to remember anything aside from his name and a few faces he could not place. Now, he is a Runner, transporting messages for the unfairly imprisoned. Who are the strangers he meets on one of his missions, and why do they seem so familiar? Could they be among "the faces"? Is it possible that they could be people he knew from before?

**Okay, got that out of the way. Don't ask me how all of this happened, it just DID. So there.**

**THIS IS ONLY LABLED AS ADVENTURE BECAUSE I COULD NOT FIND ACTION ON THE LIST OF GENRES. IT IS TOTALLY OF THE MISSING ACTION GENRE. Sorry for the inconvenience. Anyway, on to the disclaimer~!**

**Disclaimer: **I **don't** own Hetalia, I **don't** own _Mirrors Edge_, I **do** own the story, and I **do** own the OOC-ness of the characters. Only saying it once, not even mentioning it again.

**Okay, got that over with. Enjoy the story~!**

* * *

I slid through the small opening before running down the echoey metal hallway, gasping for air. As I turned the corner, I slowed to a stop, still breathing hard. I leaned against the wall, puzzling over what had happened.

After I had taken a few seconds to catch my breath, the radio crackles in my ear.

"This was meant to be a low-key job, Kiku. Why were they shooting? What the hell did you do?"

"I do not know why they were shooting, Mercury-san!" I responded, my tone clipped and short. "I did nothing to provoke them, they simply opened fire!"

I was almost _positive_ I had done nothing to provoke them - scratch that, I was one hundred percent certain I had not provoked them in any way. So why had that happened...?

**-Flashback-**

"Hey! Drop the bag and put your hands where we can see them, or we WILL open fire!"

A group of Blues stood across the room from me, their guns aimed at me. The one who had shouted was closest to me, walking slowly closer. I cursed and ran for my life... literally, I could hear the guns being fired at me, the bullets missing by mere inches. I swung around the landing, hoping the bullets could not make it through the metal, cursing between gasping breaths. I could not stop, I could not even slow down; doing either would certainly spell my doom.

"Wires are fizzing about you, Kiku. News chopper spotted you, Blues are headed your way. I'm patching Celeste in now," Mercury's voice informed me via radio. "You there, Cel?"

"Kind of knew that first part already, Mercury-san," I muttered.

Using my shoulder as leverage, I rammed into a door, blasting it open, and kept going. As I came to the next door, I did the same thing, blasting the door off of its hinges.

"What the hell's happening? I can hear gunshots, and that bird seems a little too curious…" Celeste's voice questioned over the radio, reminding me of what I was supposed to be doing.

I jumped to a building below, rolling to soften the blow as I landed.

And that had lead to where I was now...

**-End Flashback-**

I had to keep going, I had to complete the delivery at all costs. Celeste-san, Mercury-san, the clients... I could not give up, for their sake.

Pushing away from the wall, I moved back into the open, building up speed and momentum. I could hear the Blues behind me, shouting at each other.

"There he is!" one shouted. "After him!"

I leapt across the chasm, grabbing the ledge desperately with my hands and hauling myself up. I began to run, looking over my shoulder to check for Blues, and turned a corner.

That was when I realized they must have sent someone ahead to stop me: I was facing a Blue with brown hair, a curl off to one side, facing away from me. I tensed instinctively, crouching slightly as I moved slowly towards him, ready to fight should things get ugly but hoping I would not have to.

The boy turned, his cinnamon-brown eyes widening as he took in the sight of me. He backed away slowly, looking nervous... as if he would bolt at any moment.

I blinked, standing straighter and eyeing him cautiously. Why was he not pulling a weapon, shooting at me? Calling for help? This was too weird of a situation. Was he even a cop? ... Now that I had a closer look at him, he could not have been much older than I was. I relaxed slightly, but remained ready to fight.

I heard shouting from some distance behind me; the Blues were on their way. Hurriedly, I grabbed the brunette's arm, dragging him along with me. I may not have known him before today, but I was not going to allow him to be harmed simply because I had inadvertently dragged him into this mess. Jigoku no hōhō wa was I going to let that happen.

We managed to get to the next roof with the boy only stumbling once or twice when I slid under or vaulted over something too suddenly. He was able to keep up with me surprisingly well, as if he spent a large amount of time running for some reason or another.

I was surprised he was following me at that point, truthfully... if he were a Blue, he would have attacked by now, and if he were a fellow Runner, he would have taken off to follow his own path. This kid, though... he seemed almost lost in a way, unsure of where to go.

"Hey, more Blues ahead," Mercury informed me. "Looks like you're going to have to fight."

I cursed as the first Blue spotted us. "You could not have warned us a bit sooner, Mercury-san?"

"Hey, I only just found out!" he responded indignantly.

The Blue shot at us, the bullet missing by mere centimeters. The kid gave a slight squeak of alarm behind me, apparently not expecting a cop to shoot at him. Must be peaceful where he comes from, assuming he is not from around here. I charged at the Blue, grabbing and twisting his arm as he swung the pistol in his hand towards my head. I knocked him out quickly and handed the gun to the boy, just to be on the safe side.

Another shot rang out, and I raced across the roof, using metal pipes as springboards and vaulting over a high up rail - who needed stairs, really? - and punched the one remaining Blue with enough force to knock him out instantly. Footsteps behind me told me the kid was still following me for whatever reason. His hands were empty again; he had either ditched the gun or hidden it somewhere on his person. I hurried over to a ladder, dragging him along with me, and climbed up.

"You almost there, Cel?" Mercury asked.

"Yep, I can see Kiku now... Hey, who's the kid with her?" Celeste asked.

"Explainations later," I grumbled quietly.

When we reached the roof, I turned to see Celeste standing there, waiting for me. I held up the bright yellow bag - our precious cargo, the message to be delivered - and tossed it to her.

"I'll take it from here," Celeste promised.

"Okay, Celeste-san. Be careful, they are playing rough," I warned her.

"I'll be fine," she reassured me. She glanced behind me and swore. "Shit! Get outta here!"

I turned quickly, grabbing the boy's wrist instinctively. My eyes widened as I took in the sight of more Blues, dressed in SWAT uniforms. Time to run, seeing as there was no way I could take them out without... I don't know, a really powerful gun, or maybe a bomb of some kind.

I pulled him along behind me, leaping towards the chain link fence and scrambling over.

"You gotta get off that roof, Kiku, you and the boy both," Mercury said, pointing out the obvious. "I don't care _how_ you do it, just do it!"

I glanced around, searching for an escape route, knowing there had to be one somewhere... There! A helicopter! Gripping my companion's wrist tightly, I ran towards it, leaping to grab the pole stretched along the bottom. I could hear him cursing rapidly in a language I dimly recognized. When the helicopter finally flew over a soft landing, I released my death grip on both the kid's hand and the pole.

We landed safely, but he seemed shaken up and a bit angry because of my actions.

"Mio Dios, what the fuck were you thinking?" he demanded, his voice choked.

"Anata o kangei shite iru. If I had not done that, we would both be dead," I responded, irritated. I turned and began to walk away. He obviously disliked me, why should I stay there longer than I have to?

"Co-cosa? Aspetta! Non puoi semplicemente lasciarmi qui!" he called after me, clear desperation in his tone. "Mi dispiace! I didn't mean to make you mad!"

I stopped, somehow recognizing the meaning of his pleas. I turned to face him, regarding him quietly. His eyes had teared up slightly, he had taken one step and reached his left hand towards me, and he seemed so lost, so confused and scared. How could I have wanted to simply leave him there, to fend for himself?

"Who are you?" I finally asked. Why did he seem so familiar to me...? I couldn't put a name to his face, but he definitely made my brain dig for nonexistent memories.

"My name is Lovino. What's your name?"

"Kiku," I replied. I glanced around, hoping we had not taken too long here already. "Come on, we had best go before the Blues find their way down here."

Lovino bit his lip and nodded. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

**Right! Chapter one's done! What do you think? Good, bad, meh? There's more to come, the story's not over yet!**

**By the way, although this follows most of the first level's story line, not all the lines are the same (duh) and I changed a few of the places you can go (ex, there's no tunnel to rest in. sorry peeps). Oh yea, and you don't drag anyone around, but Lovi definitely fits the part if you were going to.**

**Okay, translations! (I don't speak anything but English, I used Google. They might not be right.)**

Jigoku no hōhō wa - (日本) No way in hell  
Mio Dios - (Italiano) My God  
Anata o kangei shite iru - (日本) You're welcome  
Co-cosa? Aspetta! Non puoi semplicemente lasciarmi qui! - (Italiano) Wh-what? Wait! You can't just leave me here!  
Mi dispiace! - (Italiano) I'm sorry!

**Kay, hope that clears s'more of it up.**

**Til next time...  
XionAmmy out! **


	2. Chapter 1: Names I Should Not Know

**YAY MICROSOFT WORD WORKS AGAIN! I dunno why it just suddenly started working, but that doesn't matter… I'm happy as hell!  
AND THEN IT STOPPED WORKING AGAIN. Just FML and get it over with already. OTL **

**Disclaimer:** I just write the stories, people. I don't own ANYTHING but the plot, damnit! And just because it's included in the story doesn't mean it happened in the game!

**Ammy: Okay, Romano, I think they get it now…  
Kiku: Romano? I thought his name was Lovino…  
Romano: Great, now he's gonna figure it out early. Thanks, Ammy.  
Ammy: Just doin' my job, Lovi. Just doin' my job… =3**

oOoOoOoOo –Kiku's POV– oOoOoOoOo

Lovino-kun had been staying with us for about a week by then. Not much had changed… he still swore at least once in each sentence (on average), he was still angry at everyone and everything, he was still lost and confused in the city, the idea of cops shooting at him was still a terrifying and foreign idea to him…

He still triggered my missing memories, sent my mind searching for things that were not there.

But some things had changed, all the same. He understood Runner lingo better, I could take him on missions without him getting too lost, he was slowly gaining his own Runner Vision… Lovino-kun was getting better at figuring out the paths I overlooked initially as time went on.

I still did not understand why Mercury-san insisted that I be the person in charge of his training, the only person allowed to train him. Usually, when a new runner was added to the team, the entire team worked together to show him or her the ropes, not just one specific runner. However, who was I to argue with his decisions?

That was why I was outside, on the training grounds, running Lovino-kun through the exercises to remind him of various tactics and teach him to disarm his opponents.

"Hey, Kiku?" Lovino-kun called, panting. "Can we take a break?"

I nodded slowly, waving Lovino-kun over to a nearby ledge. The two of us sit side by side, staring out at the city skyline.

"You seem… somewhat stressed. What is wrong, Lovino-kun?" I asked, watching him out of the corner of my eye.

He bites his lip, the one stray curl in his hair seeming to twitch. "My fratello…" he muttered. "I haven't been able to find him since I got here. It's not like he's a total weakling, but…"

"He would have been just as unprepared for this city as you were," I guessed. "You fear he may have gotten shot or otherwise injured by the Blues before he could explain."

Lovino-kun nodded, a distant look in his cinnamon-brown eyes. "He probably has the Potato Bastard with him, but… no matter how tough Ludwig is, if they were ambushed or attacked by too many at the same time…" he whispered. He glanced over, a sudden spark of unrecognizable emotion in his eyes. "N-not that I'm worried about that damn Potato Bastard or anything, I just know he's Fratello's only chance of safety right now!"

"… I see…" I murmured. The name he had mentioned… Ludwig-san… had stirred up vague memories of a tall blonde with icy blue eyes. "Do you have any idea where Feliciano-chan is?"

Lovino-kun abruptly turned to face me. "H-how did you know his name, damnit?" he demanded, a scared look in his eyes. I blinked, realizing that I should not have known his name.

"I- I don't know…" I whispered, panic welling up in my chest. What was going on? How had I pulled Lovino-kun's brother's name out of thin air? It was inexplicable, much like everything else that had happened over the past week.

He paused, giving me an odd look. "It's fine… Japan."

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "I'm sorry, Romano-kun, I have no idea how I knew your brother's name. This has been a very strange week for me..."

He went rigid for a moment, curl twitching again. I studied him cautiously out of the corner of my eye, alarmed.

"It's fine, Kiku. Don't worry about it, damnit, 'cause it's not that big of a deal," Lovino-kun insisted after a moment. He stood abruptly, turning back to the training course. "I've rested long enough, so I'm gonna run through the course on my own a few times."

I nodded numbly, staring off into the distance. It wouldn't be until much later that I would realize I had responded to the name "Japan" and called Lovino-kun "Romano-kun" by mistake.

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**Ah, finally got it done. Now the story can be read by my wonderful readers... ^.^**

**REMEMBER, FOLKS, REVIEWS LIGHT A FIRE UNDER MY REAR AND GET ME TO WRITE FASTER... bad ones slow me down though, so be careful... SO IF YOU WANT THIS (or my other stories) TO BE UPDATED SOONER OR FASTER, CLICK ON THE PRETTY LITTLE BUTTON DOWN THERE AND ASK ME (politely, 'cause I totally ignore threats donchano...) TO WRITE MORE!**


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